RIM snaps up The Astonishing Tribe for UI skills

RIM has purchased 3D user interface specialist The Astonishing Tribe for an undisclosed sum, the company announced on its blog on Thursday.RIM says that it will put TAT's expertise to use on its upcoming BlackBerry smartphones and tablet devices running on the BlackBerry 6 and QNX platforms.

RIM has purchased 3D user interface specialist The Astonishing Tribe for an undisclosed sum, the company announced on its blog on Thursday.

RIM says that it will put TAT's expertise to use on its upcoming BlackBerry smartphones and tablet devices running on the BlackBerry 6 and QNX platforms.

"TAT is renowned for their innovative mobile user interface (UI) designs and has a long history of working with mobile and embedded technology [focusing] on delivering great user experiences," David Yach chief technology officer at RIM said in a statement.

Many of the company's early developments revolved around integration and extension of the Google Android platform, providing features such as 3D widgets and widget management as well supporting native Android features like shortcuts, live wallpapers and shortcuts.

Sweden-based TAT is most well known for its work designing custom mobile user interfaces — such as the one used on the Synaptics Fuse concept phone — but the company also has experience in providing interfaces for cars and consumer electronics.

RIM recently launched the newest iteration of its BlackBerry 6 operating system with the release of the BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone in August. Its second platform, known as QNX, is thought to be destined for use on tablet devices — such as the PlayBook — and was acquired as part of a deal with Harman International to purchase the QNX Software Systems unit.

On Tuesday, RIM's share price saw a 5.4 percent upswing following praise of its QNX platform from Jeffries analyst Peter Misek, according to a report by Reuters.

Misek also suggested that we could see the QNX platform spreading to RIM handsets from as early as the first quarter of next year.

The Canadian smartphone makers share price saw little change following announcement of the acquisition, dropping slightly from an opening price of $62.40 (£39.99) to $61.64 at the time of writing.

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